Business news

19 May 2021

Investor from New Zealand to build tourist complex in Belarus

Photo vitbichi.by

VITEBSK, 19 May (BelTA) - An investor from New Zealand is set to build a multifunctional tourist complex in Gorodok District, BelTA learned from the National Agency of Investment and Privatization (NAIP) that has provided information and advisory services to the client.

The project is expected to take about two years, the preliminary investment is estimated at $2 million. The investor plans to build several hospitality facilities in the town of Yezerishche. They will have a different purpose but will be united by a common concept. The project also aims to start the production of whiskey from quinoa (or beer from quinoa as an option) for domestic consumption and for export. Tourists will be able to watch a brewing process live and then buy a drink from an oak barrel. One of the buildings will be made over into a small economy-class hotel. A camper site and a barbecue zone will be set up nearby. Another building will be transformed into a fisherman's house. Other uses of the premises are being considered too.

To implement the project, the businessman bought a complex of buildings and structures with a total area of over 3,000 square meters. The central structure of this complex is a two-story mansion. It was built in 1957 and housed a local office of the Communist Party of Belarus. This building will be the first in line to be refurbished. It will look like a traditional Belarusian manor and will be used as an office. All in all, an area as big as over 1.1 hectares will be turned into a tourist attraction. The reasons why the New Zealand investor chose this place were the outstanding architecture of the complex, proximity to Yezerishche Lake abound in fish and the fact that this place is located along the Saint Petersburg-Odessa international highway close to the Belarus-Russia state border, the NAIP informed.

The buildings and the surrounding area will be beautifully designed. The investor believes that this is important for effective promotion and marketing. There are plans to list this complex on the most popular online booking services (booking.com, airbnb) to put this place on the radar of more tourists.

The investor decided to base the quinoa production, his main line of business, in Gorodok District. The company will be headquartered in the tourist complex, the NAIP said. So far, quinoa is an experimental crop in Belarus and is cultivated only in Mogilev Oblast. The country plans to launch the full-scale production of quinoa in 2022, planting 500 hectares at first and gradually expanding the area to 2,000-3,000 hectares. Quinoa will also be cultivated in Gorodok District. Among the acquisitions of the investor is a 2,000 m2 two-story building in the town of Gorodok which he plans to transform into a quinoa processing facility. The investor intends to renovate the building and mount quinoa processing equipment by the end of the year. In the long term the investor plans to set up a logistics complex, an R&D center, a marketing department, and storage facilities.

The quinoa grown in Gorodok District will be marketed for the food industry, its by-products will be used as animal feed and its biomass as eco-friendly pellet fuel. The company’s promising target markets include Belarus, Russia, the EU member states, China, and other countries.